The floor of the Moscow Metro with a sweet candy coating. It's irreverent, cogent, and produced by contributers who are Eurasian area specialists.
Just because the Kremlin denied it does not make us wrong.

Oct 3, 2007

Gazprom decided this was the perfect time to squeeze Ukraine for back payments on their gas bill. If not, Gazprom cuts the gas. Lucky for Ukraine's sleep-deprived reporters, all they have to do is 1) copy 2) paste all their old articles from the last dispute with Gazprom and get back to the election coverage.

However, one side-note is telling. Reuters reports, "Amid concerns about a possible re-run of a gas cut-off last year that caused knock-on disruption in EU countries, Gazprom's chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, said there was no need for concern. 'European consumers won't suffer,' he told Russian news agencies. 'For European consumers the situation will be absolutely comfortable.'

Hold the phone. Along with solving Europe's energy needs, it would seem that Gazprom has also untied the Gordian knot of the "What is Europe" question. If Ukraine isn't Europe, that must mean Russia isn't in Europe either, right Dmitry?